


1 + 1 = ... 4?

by jagwriter78



Series: VM Fic Club Promptober 2020 [6]
Category: Veronica Mars (Movie 2014), Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Promptober, Promptober 2020, VM Fic Club Presents Promptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27490588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jagwriter78/pseuds/jagwriter78
Summary: In certain instances, 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2 anymore.
Relationships: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars
Series: VM Fic Club Promptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946935
Comments: 19
Kudos: 41
Collections: VM Fic Club Presents Promptober 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The last of my (finished) Promptober 2020 fics! See the list at the end of this chapter for all the prompts I used. 
> 
> Oh.... this is unbeta'ed. So any mistakes you find in this one are solely mine and mine to keep!

The bedroom lay quiet except for the occasional low wheeze coming from the tiny form that lay huddled in the middle of the bed. Cocooned in her mother's warm embrace, the little girl finally slept peacefully after a night and day of coughing, sneezing and wheezing. The fever had broken about an hour ago, giving the small body the rest it deserved. 

Veronica stroked her daughter's hair softly as the little girl lay snuggled against her body. It wasn't the first cold or fever they had to cope with, but when her temperature had reached 104 degrees, they'd been seriously worried. A call to Ava's pediatrician had reassured them that that was still acceptable as long as it didn't climb any higher and no other symptoms surfaced. All they should do was monitor her, give her some Tylenol and keep her hydrated. 

Ava had cried herself to sleep, fed up with and exhausted by the violent coughing attacks, the snot running down her face and fever shivers raging through her. And all that was audible now was her even breathing, a low wheezing sound mixed in now and then, as mother and daughter lay tugged in under the warming comforter.

The mattress shifted slightly, and Logan slipped under the covers with them, settling into a comfortable position curled behind Veronica. A hand snaked over her midsection, then travelled over the girl's tiny form and came to rest on her small belly, stroking it gently.

"We've got enough in the fridge for a quick and dirty dinner," he whispered, his nose nuzzled against the side of her neck. "Or I could just order us some pizza."

"I'll go for the quick and dirty.”

“How is she?”

“Sleeping soundly for the last twenty minutes. I hope it’s gonna stay like that for at least a few hours.”

They lay in silence, the dim light emanating from the small lamp on the nightstand behind them the only thing that illuminated the otherwise dark room, until a fierce coughing attack broke the stillness. Ava started thrashing and whining in her sleep, her tiny body shaking intensely with each cough. Veronica pulled her closer, tightening the protective embrace and whispered sweet nothings in her daughter’s ear while Logan reached for his daughter’s hand, cradling it in his palm, his thumb brushing softly over her smooth skin. They rode it out with her, letting her know that they were there for her, helping her, protecting her. The coughing finally stopped after a few minutes, and the little girl settled back into a comfortable position, never once waking fully from the attack. With a deep, wheezing sigh, she drifted back into a deep slumber.

“Have you thought about having another one lately?” Logan asked, resting his chin on his wife’s shoulder as he looked down at the tiny girl in her arms.

“Totally out of left field,” she replied, visibly taken aback by his question, “you need to give me a heads up if you wanna have a serious discussion.”

“Heads up. I wanna have a serious discussion,” he mumbled and received a light chuckle in response. “So. Have you?”

“Have I thought about having another kid lately?”

“Yeah.”

She glanced over at him incredulously as she bobbed her eyebrows. 

“Does you asking me if I want to have another baby have anything to do with Wallace and Shae adding to their brood next month and Mac just telling us last week that Tom finally managed to knock her up?”

“It sounds so… derogative when you say it like that,” he whistled and calmingly brushed his hand down Ava’s arm when the little girl silently twitched in her sleep. “I can say nothing bad about that little Mars bar we made.”

“I’ll remind you again tonight when she wakes up at 3AM crying, coughing and sniffling and we won't get any sleep for the rest of the night.”

“I’m serious, Veronica.”

“I’m listening.”

Settling his head back on the pillow, he nuzzled his face in her blonde hair, taking in the mixed scent of cherries and bubblegum. Mother and daughter apparently hadn’t only taken a bath together this morning, but had also indulged in sharing the same kiddy shampoo and body soap. 

“We’re both not getting any younger. Ava could really need a little brother or sister," he mumbled, tightening his embrace around them. "Someone she can always rely on. Who’s there for her when we’re no longer around. If she’s anything like us, she’d really benefit from a sibling.”

“Oh, that’s deep.”

“Told you I wanna have a serious discussion. So, have you since we last broached this subject?”

She remained silent for a moment, her hand searching for his under the covers, fingers immediately linking when she found it resting against Ava's tiny body. Taking a deep breath, she gave him a gentle squeeze and exhaled her single word answer.

“Sometimes.”

“Do I have to squeeze every word out of you separately or what?” he cajoled.

“You can’t just drop something like this and expect me to have a serious discussion about it while we’re snuggled in bed with our sick kid,” she griped, inhaling sharply.

"I'm not asking for a  _ most definitely _ and  _ let's start trying. _ I just wanna test the waters and see if there's finally a  _ maybe _ hiding somewhere in that  _ sometimes. _ "

"Maybe," she answered, her lips temporarily forming a cunning smile that got lost in the dim light around them, "if you can manage another home run."

"So we'll consider it?"

She carefully rolled onto her back, making sure Ava was still resting in a comfortable position. The little girl shifted slightly and sniveled in her sleep at the sudden loss of a warm body behind her. When her butt bumped against her mother’s side, she flopped over and wriggled closer, curling up against her and throwing an arm straight across her chest. Veronica picked up the tiny hand resting on her breast and brought it up to her lips, kissing it gently. Placing their locked hands on her stomach, she moved her attention to Logan.

"I expect at least a fifteen minutes presentation and an Excel chart with all the pros and cons before I even consider moving from a maybe to a definite yes."

The corners of Logan's mouth curled into a sanguine smile, "Talk over dinner?"

"I should've known you wouldn't go into this without having your speech ready."

"No speech, but I did update my Excel sheet."

He bobbed his eyebrows at her, his tongue lazily slipping over his bottom lip before he winked at her with a wide grin.

"Wipe that smirk off your face. I haven't said yes."

"Yet."

"Must be some pretty convincing arguments you prepared."

"It starts with a prone position, maybe some illegal use of hands and ends in a slam dunk. Game, set and match."

"Logan!" she muttered exasperatedly, "Our kid is sleeping right here!"

"It’s how we made her. Nothing wrong with that."

"First strike out," she warned him. 

"I think I need to get back to that Excel sheet," he smirked and leaned in to peck the tip of her nose. He crawled out from under the covers but stopped when he felt Veronica's fingers curl around his wrist.

"Hey," she gave him a warm, sincere smile, "Moments like these. For your Excel list."

"Pro or con?"

She shrugged her shoulders and flicked her eyes upwards, "Given all the snot and spit and gunk I had thrown at me today, definitely a pro."

"Soggy poopy diapers. Top of the list."

"Baby puke all over your clothes. Close second."

"Being peed on while changing that soggy poopy diaper."

"Nothing beats cleaning up a kid who's got the runs."

"You've got it all covered, honeybunch," He gave her a thumbs up while he winked at her with a shrewd grin. "I'll let you know when dinner's ready."

"Think you can throw in some pasta?" she stopped him once again, all cunning and charming as she batted her eyelashes at him.

"My lady has cravings."

"Right," she snorted, "don't get your hopes up. It was just a simple request. You'll notice when I have real cravings."

" _ Red, White and Blueberry _ with whipped cream, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and maple syrup on top and a peppermint Aero bar on the side."

“Well, look at that. You do remember.”

“How could I ever forget after that two hour long grocery run in the middle of a very rainy night to find a pint of exactly that ice cream. But anything to please my ladies.”

"Pasta?"

"I'll see what I can whip up."

He kneeled on the bed and leaned in to place a quick but tender kiss on her lips, then brushed his hand over Ava's head to smoothen out a few wayward strands of hair.

"We'll talk," he muttered, more of a statement to remind her what she'd promised him than a question second-guessing her previous offer.

"We'll definitely talk," she reassured him as she placed her palm against his chest, playfully pushing him off the bed. "Now go make dinner. This lady here is starving."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as the first chapter - this one is not betaed. Any mistakes are mine and mine to keep ;-)

The first rays of sunlight crept into the bedroom through the half-drawn blinds. Tickled by the warming sensation across her face, Veronica wrinkled her nose as she rolled over, facing the dark side of the room. She fumbled for the covers blindly, dimly aware that most of her body was no longer covered by anything other than her sleepwear. Her eyes peeled open slowly and focused on the body sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed, wrapped in the majority of said covers she was missing on her side of the bed. Splayed out on his back, one arm dangling off the side of the bed, the other strategically draped across his face. Logan had always been a messy sleeper, hogging both covers and space on those occasions when their bodies drifted away from each other during the night. 

Back in the days when he'd still been with the Navy, she'd always wondered how he'd actually managed with being cramped into a twin-sized bunk on any of his tours. She just could not imagine the bed hogger that he was to make due in such a tiny space. Or maybe it was just because of this that he'd take advantage of the wide open space he had at his disposal again when he'd actually been home with her and would completely take over their king-sized bed, arms and legs stretched wide as he lay diagonal across the mattress, leaving her only a smidge of space. But she never complained. It was one of the cuter things she loved about him, as it always gave her the perfect excuse to squeeze into that tiny bit of space he left and snuggle close thim. 

It was also one of the things he had passed on their daughter. The first time they had stopped swaddling her for a nap, Veronica had come into the nursery to find their baby laying sideways in her crib and upside down. One leg was sticking out through the rails at the front, an arm through the ones at the foot. Her head was tightly pressed against the back rail, covered half by the light baby blanket, but still sleeping soundly. That incident had brought out the crib bumper again and prompted the immediate purchase of a sleep sack.

They'd dreaded the day she'd outgrow her crib and they had to trade it for a toddler bed. There'd been quite a bit of teasing from their friends and calling them overprotective when they'd told them that they'd placed a second mattress in front of the bed even though the toddler bed had a slightly elevated frame that was supposed to keep her from falling off. Better be safe than sorry. Come end of the very first nap time she'd taken in her new grown-up kiddy bed, they'd found Ava sleeping in what looked like the most uncomfortable position they could think of. Sometime during her nap, she'd drifted over the side of the bed, and now hung halfway off. Half her bottom and one leg was still on the mattress, tangled in her snuggly blanket, while the other leg was hanging loose in the air. Her elbows were resting on the spare mattress in front of her bed, her chin securely placed between them, while she was still in a very deep slumber. Two years from that incident, the spare mattress still was pulled out every night just because... like father, like daughter. 

Chuckling lightly, Veronica scooted closer to Logan and slipped back under the comforter. Hooking one foot over his calf, an arm tightly wrapped around his midsection, she settled herself snuggly against his body. As if on cue, his arm moved from its position across his eyes to around her shoulders, pulling her in even closer while she nestled her head in his nook. For a moment, she watched the even cadence of his chest rising up and down slowly, then brushed her lips against his jaw in a gentle kiss.

"Happy birthday, handsome," she whispered, noticing the smile that crept across his face.

His eyes fluttered open, and he looked down at her with an incredibly cocky grin before he claimed her mouth with his. His hand slipped under her shirt, fingers lazily brushing up and down her spine, clearly marking his territory and declaring his intensions. A content sigh traveled across his lips when he broke their kiss. 

"Can I fully unwrap my present?"

"Mmmh," she murmured, "I was hoping you could help me with something else first."

"I'm the birthday boy," he grumbled, a playful undertone in voice. "Don't I get to decide?"

"Unwrapping this present will be much more rewarding if we do the other thing first."

He shifted, never once breaking the embrace, and came face to face with her as he settled on his side and tucked her in against him. One hand travelling down the length of her thigh, his fingers curled around the back of her knee and he hooked her leg over his. A gentle thrust of his hips, a wicked eyebrow waggle, and he was sure she’d gotten the message loud and clear. 

"I can't think of anything I'd much rather do than open my present, devour it in all its glory and then spend the rest of the morning in bed with my wife celebrating a kid-free birthday." 

She chuckled at his decisiveness, but deliberately ignored his growing hardness that was pressed so tightly against her body. There was this tiny little thing she had to get out first that would make any birthday-bedroom-celebration so much more worth and meaningful. 

"Help me pee on a stick first?"

He blinked at her, absolutely taken aback by her reply. That wasn't what he had been expecting, at least not like this, and especially not on his birthday. They had talked about having another kid, about all the pros and cons, about the whys and why nots. Fifteen minutes into that conversation, Veronica had cut him off in the middle of rattling off all the pros he had so carefully prepared by simply saying that she was gonna stop taking the pill. And that had been that. A mere six months ago.

"Are you sure?"

She shrugged her shoulders slightly, "We'll be ninety-nine percent sure after I've peed on that stick."

"What are the odds of it being positive?"

"Pretty darn good I'd say."

"How pretty darn good?"

"Do you wanna keep asking me questions? Cause I could just take the test instead and we'll know for sure."

"What are we waiting for?" he exclaimed, flipped back the covers and was out of the bed in a jiffy. Standing there in nothing but a white t-shirt and black boxers, he extended his hands towards her, a look of excitement spreading over his features, mixed in with just a tinge of awe and glee.

"You're suddenly all giddy," Veronica chuckled as she crawled to the edge of bed. Straightening, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Can we agree on something first?"

"That we're messing up the second kid just as bad as the first one?" he quipped, tenderly brushing a strand of tousled hair out of her forehead.

"Let’s keep this between the two of us for now."

“Ava,” he simply stated. There was no need to really mention the temper tantrums she’d thrown when she’d found her parents cooing over all the new offsprings that had joined their close-knit friend circle the last few weeks instead of showering her with the attention and affection she was demanding that very moment. If that was an indication of how life around the Echolls-Mars household would be with another little one joining their family, they were in for quite a ride. A constantly sulking 4-year-old wasn’t particularly a pleasant thing at all, especially if that 4-year-old was a Mars through and through. 

"She’ll come around when she meets her little brother or sister for the first time,” Logan said with just that hint of reassurement she needed before he leaned in to peck her lips, “No Mars woman can resist the Echolls charm.”

“From your lips to God’s ears!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veronica set the timer on her cell and placed it on the coffee table next to the pregnancy test. Three minutes of waiting that would feel like a lifetime. She was pretty sure she knew what the test would say, after all her body worked like a clockwork and the only other time she'd been this late had resulted in quite a lot of tears and crying nine months later when that naked screaming pink bundle had been placed on her chest for the very first time. Leaning back on the couch, she curled up against Logan, wrapping her arms around his body as her head came to rest against his shoulder.

"And now we wait." He placed his chin on top of her head, tucking her comfortably into his side. "How long have you been suspecting?"

"A few days," she replied nonchalantly, hoping he wouldn't ask any further how many days it was exactly that she'd been suspecting. But knowing Logan, she was sure a not-so-precise definition such as _a few_ would most probably prompt a subsequent question. And it came only a secont later. 

"How many days exactly is a few days?"

She cringed, really having hoped that would be one confession she didn’t have to make, "Eighteen.”

He pulled back a bit and looked at her incredulously, "Eighteen?"

"It kinda went from _I'm a week late_ to _I should take a test_ to _I've been so busy,_ _I've just crossed into week two without taking that test_. I kinda figured this really is _it_ and I'll just wait a few more days for your birthday so we can take the test together and celebrate properly without the prospect of a kid interrupting us."

"And you didn't tip over during all that time? Who are you and what have you done with my wife?"

"Trust me, _it was killing me_ doesn't even begin to cover it!" she admitted, "The other day at the hospital, when you were holding Tara in your arms and told Mac what a joy little girls are, I was this close to telling you." 

They remained silent for a moment, the steady _tock, tock, tock_ of the antique clock that had found its final resting place on the bookshelf the only sound that echoed through the living room. His arm slipped around her midsection, and his hand came to rest against her stomach, fingers splayed wide.

"Do you want a boy or girl?" he murmured, his nose nuzzled into her hair, inhaling the mix of summer breeze and ocean water that was so unmistakably Veronica. 

"Any kid of ours is probably bound for trouble,” she chuckled as she lazily patted his chest. “So no preference."

"Another girl would be nice. They really are such a joy."

"What, no boy to level the field?” she snorted, “Someone you can invite to your secret man cave?"

"I'm all about gender equality. I can invite my daughters to my man cave just as well."

Shifting slightly, she pulled back just enough to meet his gaze, “You really do want another girl, do you?”

“Like I told you last time, all I care about is that it’s healthy and has ten fingers and ten toes.”

“So a two-headed cyclopes with four legs and three arms would be all right? Given it has those ten fingers and toes in total only.”

"Cyclopes are by definition one-eyed meaning they can't have two heads. If they did have two heads, they'd have two eyes, ergo no longer a cyclopes."

"They can if just one of the heads has an eye. See? Two heads. One eye. Cyclopes."

He laughed and tickled her side, causing her to flinch and twist and turn, though he wasn’t really sure if it was his playful necking that had caused her sudden jumpiness or if it was the squawking ringtone of her cell that announced the timer had run out. 

"Time of truth."

She took a deep breath as she scrambled to her feet and picked up the pregnancy test from the coffee table. Covering the result with her palm before she could read it, she turned back to Logan and held up her hand. Very slowly, she uncurled one finger after another, then removed her hand completely, twisting the test between her fingers so he would see the _pregnant_ or _not pregnant_ on the little stick first. The genuine smile that lit up his whole face a second later was all the answer she needed.

"Best birthday present ever."

**Author's Note:**

>  **Slam dunk:**  
>  1\. an action or accomplishment that is easily done  
> 2\. (in sports and games) a shot in which a player thrusts the ball forcefully down through the basket.
> 
>  **home run:**  
>  1\. A highly successful achievement  
> 2\. (in sports and games) a fair hit that allows the batter to make a complete circuit of the bases without stopping and score a run.
> 
>  **prone position:**  
>  1\. a body position in which the person lies flat with the chest down and the back up.  
> 2\. (in sports and games) A face-down, extended push-up position on a performing surface
> 
>  **illegal use of hands:**  
>  1\. (in sports and games) a penalty in Football, called on a team when a player's hands make contact with an opposing player's face-area intentionally and forcefully, especially above and around the facemask.  
> 2\. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>  **audible:**  
>  1\. able to be heard  
> 2\. To change plans at the last minute based on newly revealed information.  
> 3\. (in sports and games) When a team's offense is ready to run a play but decides at the last second to change what it's going to do.
> 
>  **game-set-match:**  
>  1\. a phrase said that can be used humorously in any situation in which someone is victorious or triumphant.  
> 2\. (in sports and games) an expression commonly used at the conclusion of a tennis match to indicate that a competitor has won.
> 
>  **strike out:**  
>  1\. fail or be unsuccessful.  
> 2\. (in sports and games) put a batter out (or be put out) from play as a batter by means of three strikes.


End file.
